Minnesota Mission
by kjt1
Summary: Will the world end if Jack finally convinces Sam to go fishing with him? SJ Complete.
1. Part 1

Title: Minnesota Mission  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: As much as I hate to admit it, I have no affiliation with Stargate  
Spoilers: No real time setting for this, though I guess it's probably around early Season 7. Mention of 'Solitudes' incident.  
Notes: I really don't know where this came from, I guess I've always wondered what would happen if Carter gave in to Jack's persistent suggestions that she go fishing with him. Alas, I couldn't bring myself to make it any more than UST, but the hints are there ;-)

-

"Watcha doin' with your downtime then, Carter?" asked Colonel Jack O'Neill as they sat in the commissary.

"What are you doing for it, Sir?" she replied, deflecting his question.

"Oh, you know, the usual." His tone was so casual that Sam couldn't help smiling.

"Fishing?"

"Fishing," he confirmed. "And you?" he tried again.

"Working."

"No, you're not," he stated. She raised her eyebrows quizzically. "I know for a fact that General Hammond has ordered you off base for the next three days."

"How do you know that, Sir?" she inquired, eyes narrowed dangerously. "The General only informed _me_ of that fact about ten minutes ago." He plastered an innocent look on his face and shrugged. "You wouldn't have had anything to do with it, Sir, would you?"

"So, watcha doin' with your downtime?"

"Sir, I really need to work. There are a number of system checks I need to run, diagnostics to analyze –"

"Ah, ah, ah, Carter," he interrupted with a raised hand and a pained expression. "The reason Hammond has ordered you off base is because he feels everyone else is too reliant on your expertise. He's still pissed about the system failure when you were at the Pentagon last month and having to call them to request your return to the SGC because the technicians couldn't cope."

Sam smiled as she remembered the incident. Hammond's friends at the Pentagon had taken great delight in relaying the information to her that the General had been forced to admit his team weren't as good with some aspects Gate technology as he'd thought. She knew he would be the butt of jokes for a while to come.

"So, watcha doin' with your downtime?" he repeated for the third time, his tone daring her to ignore his question again.

"I guess I'll just hang out at home. Mark and the kids are away on vacation, so I can't go see them."

"You could come fishing," he suggested nonchalantly, as though he'd only just thought of the idea. "With me," he added needlessly.

"Thanks for the offer, Sir, but I think I'll pass."

"I could order you."

"You can order me to take downtime, you can't order me about what to do with it," she replied, adding a, "Sir," belatedly.

"Come on, Carter, it'll be fun."

"No offense, Sir, but fishing isn't exactly my idea of fun."

"I'm wounded, Carter," he said, dramatically feigning hurt and raising a hand to his heart. "Besides, if you don't like fishing, it's probably because you've never been to the right place with the right person."

"From what Teal'c told me, the lake at your cabin has no fish, so I wouldn't say it was the right place."

"Careful, Carter," he warned with a gleam in his eye. "Come on, I'll even let you bring your laptop, if you promise to leave all your other doohickeys behind."

She eyed him carefully as she considered his proposal, trying to decide if it was really a good idea to spend her three days downtime with her CO… alone… at his cabin… his remote cabin. Suddenly, a thought struck her and suspicion that there was a catch grew.

"You do have electricity up there, don't you?"

He laughed out loud, causing numerous heads to turn in the commissary. Sam shot him a 'shut up' look and he settled down again before saying accusingly, "You think Minnesota's in the backwoods or something, Carter?"

"Of course not, Sir," she smiled, but delivered another blow to his ego by adding with a grin, "I meant your cabin specifically, not Minnesota in general."

"Yes, it has electricity, Carter," he mock-growled. "Come with me and I'll prove it to you." His smile was infectious and she returned it, nodding her head in silent agreement. "You'll come?" he queried in shock.

"Sure, why not?" she shrugged, her mind already providing her with a whole list of reasons 'why not'.

-

"You keep a truck at the airport?" exclaimed Sam in surprise as Jack stowed their bags in the back and then opened the driver's door, motioning for her to get in the other side.

"Of course not, Carter," he laughed. "I keep one at the cabin and get a friend to drive it to the airport when I need it; he would have left it here this morning on his way to work."

"I'm sorry," she said sheepishly, "it's just that I thought you always drove up here, I'm still surprised we flew."

Her surprise had been evident that morning. Jack had picked her up from her house and driven them to a commercial airport where they had jumped into a chartered plane that he flew to the nearest airstrip to his cabin.

"We have three days of downtime, driving would have used up two of those. I'm not going to lose two days of fishing time if I don't have to." He had already explained that chartering the plane didn't cost him anything, it was owned by an ex-USAF friend of his. The truck was the one he had replaced with the one currently in Colorado. He had driven it to Minnesota when he upgraded to the new one.

The truck sped down the highway until they reached town. As Jack pulled into a parking lot, Sam looked at him in confusion.

"Supplies," he told her. "If you want to eat today."

The grocery trip didn't take long, with Jack insisting that junk food would be fine since they'd be eating the fish he caught anyway. Sam managed to slip a few items into the basket when he wasn't looking and he glared at her as they reached the checkout and he noticed the items.

"That looks like vegetables," he commented with a growl.

"Yes."

"And that looks like rice."

"Yes."

"What are they doing with _my_ groceries?"

"Don't worry, I'll pay for them," she assured, extracting her wallet from her pocket.

"That's not what I meant," he said, waving her hand away.

"Can't survive on hot dogs alone, Sir."

"I already told you, we'll be having fish," he protested, much to the amusement of the checkout operator.

"Yes, but it will need something to accompany it, like vegetables and rice," she said softly, knowing she would win. Jack narrowed his eyes and shook his head, but passed over the cash to the checkout operator anyway.

-

"Ah, home sweet home," said Jack as he exited his truck and took a long moment to breath in the fresh air surrounding his cabin. Rolling her eyes, Sam followed him inside and watched as he stowed away the groceries before remembering to show her where her room was located. She laughed and shook her head when she heard him dump his bag in his room before quickly announcing he was going outside to fish.

Sam didn't like the idea of walking around his cabin without permission, but she didn't really have a choice and, after unpacking, she started to open doors to familiarize herself. She knew where his room was, as she'd seen him drop his bag there, so the doors she opened turned out to be two closets and the bathroom. Walking into the kitchen, she kept opening doors until she found where the glasses were kept and then poured herself some water.

Back in the living room, she crossed to the window and looked outside, smiling as she saw Jack sitting on the dock with a fishing rod in his hand, a hat over his face and looking as though he was sound asleep. He wasn't though, as she discovered when he sensed her watching him and yelled to her that he needed another beer.

"Is that why you invited me?" she accused as she approached him and passed over a beer bottle. "To be your personal slave?"

"No, but if you're offering…"

"You're incorrigible," she groaned.

"I have no idea what that means, but I'm choosing to take it as a compliment."

She laughed at his feigned stupidity, knowing full well that he understood. "So, where are these fish then?" she grinned, looking pointedly at his empty catch bucket.

"They're in there," he defended.

"Teal'c wouldn't agree."

"Hey, if you were a fish and you saw Teal'c peering down at you, wouldn't you hide as well?"

Her laughter erupted again and Jack smiled, glad to see her relaxing. That had been the main reason for inviting her, it always was; he knew she worked too hard, stressed out too much and he wanted to help her find an outlet.

"Got your laptop set up yet?" he asked pointedly, his sunglasses hiding the twinkle in his eyes.

"No."

"Really?" Even without his eyes being visible, his face and tone conveyed his disbelief.

After a moment of silence, Sam finally said, "You didn't tell me you don't have a phone line here."

"You didn't ask."

"I… You knew I'd need one for my laptop."

"No, you told me you needed electricity for your laptop, which I have, you never mentioned anything about a phone line."

"You knew I'd want to check my email though," she pressed. Using her cellphone to connect was out of the question, as it was more difficult to get a secure connection.

"Did I?" he asked innocently, bringing his beer bottle to his lips and taking a long drink. He knew his attitude would frustrate her and he grinned openly as she let out a sigh before stalking back into the cabin.

Ten minutes later, he decided he had better check on her to make sure she wasn't plotting revenge. He honestly hadn't considered the phone line issue, but now that he had, he was glad there wasn't one, as this way she might at least spend some time away from her computer, rather than conversing with the SGC covertly.

-

"Carter, it's 0200, what are you doing out here?" asked Jack sleepily as he sat down beside her out on the front porch. Both were dressed in sweats and t-shirts and the cool night air soon caused Jack to start rubbing his arms.

"I couldn't sleep. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't," he told her. "I had to pee and saw the front door open." Sam rolled her eyes at his 'too much information' comment, but said nothing. "You couldn't sleep? Bed not comfortable enough?" he asked, trying to sound like a concerned host.

"No, it's fine," she smiled. "I guess my mind is just over-active or something."

"If _that's_ the reason, do you _ever_ sleep?" he teased, earning himself a glare. "You know, you can sleep if you really try." She turned to him, an unconvinced look adorning her face. "You just need to close your eyes really, really tight and concentrate on sleeping."

"The concentrating part's the problem," she replied. "I think about going to sleep and end up over-thinking."

"Wait, mark this moment down in history!" announced Jack loudly. "Samantha Carter admits there's such a thing as _over-thinking_." She swatted his arm, but couldn't help laughing at his antics. "Seriously, Carter, drink some warm milk or something."

"No offense, Sir, but hot milk doesn't work, that's just a myth perpetuated by parents who want their kids to drink milk."

"It worked with Charlie," he said quietly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean –" she rushed apologetically, but Jack silenced her with a smile.

"It's okay, Carter." Looking out into the night, he reminisced, "Whenever he couldn't sleep, I'd make him some warm milk, tell him to close his eyes real tight and I'd read him a story until he fell asleep." A wistful smile on his face, he added proudly, "It worked every time."

"I still don't buy the warm milk part," said Sam. "It was probably the calming lilt of your voice that sent him to sleep."

"Is that your way of saying my voice sends people to sleep?"

"No," she laughed. "I meant that you can relax people very easily, put them at ease. I can see how Charlie would be relaxed enough to fall asleep." Their eyes locked for a few moments, until Sam dropped her gaze, unconsciously swallowing hard.

"Want me to read you a story, Carter?" he offered with a teasing glint in his eyes. "I've heard I have a calming voice."

"I'm going to regret saying that, aren't I?" she groaned.

"You betcha!" The smirk on his face faded slightly as he said, "Seriously, Carter, you need to go to sleep, or at least back inside, it's freezing out here."

"Yeah, I will in a minute," she said absently, staring up at the stars.

"Make sure you do," he half-ordered, standing up and turning to go back inside. "Especially since we need to be back out here in less than six hours."

He resumed his walk back inside, but was stopped by a loud, "What!" from Sam. Turning back to her, she saw he was grinning profusely. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope."

"You expect me to be out here at what…?" she trailed off, quickly glancing at her watch. "0800?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Because we don't want to waste valuable fishing time."

"_We_?"

"Goodnight, Carter," he laughed, ending the conversation by going back inside and to his room.

-

"I'm not going out on the lake, Sir," she said firmly.

They had been arguing for ten minutes, neither prepared to back down and admit defeat. Jack was adamant that they needed to go into the middle of the lake to catch the best fish, and Sam was resolute in her stance that she didn't even want to fish, let alone sit in a small boat in the middle of a lake to fish.

"There aren't even any fish out there, Sir," she challenged.

"Yes, there are."

"So why you didn't you even get a nibble yesterday?"

"I'm thinking that you have the same effect on fish as Teal'c, they saw you standing beside me and swam away."

"Thanks for the compliment," she huffed, though her eyes were smiling.

"Prove me wrong. Come out on the lake and help me catch some fish."

"Sir, I'd rather just sit on the dock." Puffing out a sigh, Jack sent her a look that was almost pleading. "Why go out so far though? What's wrong with the dock?"

For what felt like the tenth time, Jack explained that the best fish always congregated in the deeper water in the middle of the lake. Every trip to his cabin, he took the boat out at least once, though he hadn't done that on his trip with Teal'c.

"Why didn't you take Teal'c out?" asked Sam, muttering, "How did he manage to get out of it?" under her breath.

"Believe it or not, Teal'c is scared of water." He grinned at the memory of Teal'c's objections and then smirked, "I'm serious," at Sam's dubious look. Deciding he'd had enough of talking, Jack walked to the boat and started loosening the tether. "Come on, Carter, get in the boat, that's an order."

"I thought we'd discussed this before, Sir, you can't order me around when we're off duty."

"I can when you're staying at my cabin." Rolling her eyes, Sam stood up and walked back inside. "Carter, get your six back out here!" he yelled, surprised when she actually did reappear a moment later. "What's that?" he asked, pointing at the object she was carrying.

"If I have to sit in a boat all day, I need my laptop for company," she stated.

"The _human_ company not good enough?" His tone dared her to answer, but she just smirked at him as she pushed past and stepped into the boat.

"You coming, Sir?" she said with a sickeningly sweet smile. "We don't want to waste valuable fishing time."

-

TBC…


	2. Part 2

Part 2  
Disclaimers, etc. in Part 1

-

"Sir, that's government issued property," protested Sam as Jack dangled her laptop over the side of the boat.

"And I care because…?"

"Do you have any idea how much paperwork will need to be completed if it gets destroyed? I already have to spend about an hour a day running the new encoding packages before I can take it off base." Jack just raised his eyebrows and defiantly made a show of letting the laptop slip from his grasp before catching it more firmly. "Sir, please."

"Thing is, Carter, it's _your_ government issued laptop, so _you_ would have to fill in the paperwork if anything happened to it. So, again I ask, why would I care?"

"Because in the part of the form where it says'describe what happened', I would write, 'Colonel O'Neill happened' and then let the General take it from there."

"You're no fun," he grumbled as he withdrew the laptop from its hovering position over the water and sat it in his lap. Sam held out her hand in anticipation. "Uh, no, Carter, I won't drown it, but I'm not giving it back to you."

"Why not?"

"Because you've spent the last hour tapping away at it and, quite frankly, it's giving me a headache."

Sam frowned at him, then pouted and then resorted to a puppy-dog look in an attempt to persuade him to return her laptop, but he wasn't moved.

"Please, Sir," she requested politely. "I won't be long anyway, the battery will probably run out soon."

"You know, I'd be more inclined to agree if I didn't think that you brought a spare battery out here with you." Her eyes grew wide at his statement and he laughed smugly. "Busted!"

-

They spent most of the day out on the lake, despite Sam's objections to the idea. Once she was out there though, there was nothing she could do and Jack took full advantage, even resorting to tying the oars to his legs when he decided to go to sleep, meaning Sam couldn't attempt to row them back to shore without him waking. The laptop was safely stored under his right hand and she spent her time staring at it longingly while he slept.

The sun was beginning to set as they finally returned to land and both were tired and hungry.

"Okay, Carter, go play with your toy and turn into a recluse," said Jack as he helped her from the boat and returned her laptop. "I'm gonna take a shower and then make some food."

"Okay," she nodded, hugging her laptop to her chest for fear he would steal it again, which only served to make him laugh at her.

"Is fish alright for dinner?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's fine," she replied lightly.

"You know, the right answer to that is 'Yes, Jack, fish would be wonderful. After all, you did go to all the bother of catching some mighty fine fish for us to eat'," he said in a high-pitched voice. Sam glared at his pitiful impression. "Actually, I'm not sure I want to share _my_ fish with you, Carter," he told her as he followed her into the cabin. "You seem somewhat ungrateful."

"Oh, I'm _very_ grateful, Sir," she said in a tone full of sarcasm. "Grateful to be back on dry land, that is."

Before Jack could retort, she quickened her pace and headed for her room, closing the door behind her.

"You'll pay for that, Carter!" he called from the hallway as he turned into his own room.

-

Sam let out a small gasp as she entered the kitchen and found Jack starting to prepare their meal. He was freshly showered and the sight of his still damp hair, coupled with the white t-shirt and khaki cargo pants he was wearing were making her heart race.

"Carter, you okay?" he asked, turning at her gasp.

"Uh, yeah, I was just surprised to find the kitchen as tidy when you've been gutting fish," she lied.

"I did them outside, before I took my shower," he informed her. "If you hadn't gone to play solitaire on your computer, you'd have known that."

She shook her head and chuckled, not rising to his bait. "Can I help with anything?"

"Nah, I got it covered. Unless you want some of that healthy crap you made me buy as sides?" Giving him her reply by opening the fridge to retrieve the vegetables, she bumped into his hip slightly to move him out of the way and give her room to chop them. "If you want space, Carter, you only have to ask," he smirked, bumping back into her.

They worked on dinner in silence, although Jack made smart-ass comments every once in a while about not needing rice with the fish, complaining that it would detract from the goodness. He had planned to use the outside grill for cooking, but a light rain started, stopping that idea in its tracks. Instead, he was cooking inside, fighting with Sam for access to the stove.

"For cryin' out loud, Carter, the fish is going to burn," he grumbled as he tried to push her out of the way to allow him to turn the fish, only for her to stand firm so that she could stir the rice and vegetables.

"I just need to stir this, I'll be two seconds," she replied in a tone just as annoyed as his.

"Alright, that's it! This is _my_ kitchen, so I'll do the cooking. Out!" he ordered, shocking Sam. She turned worried eyes to him and he relented slightly, saying more gently, "There's not enough room for two cooks, Carter, I'll handle this."

"You'll look after the rice?"

"Yes, and the vegetables," he agreed with a grimace.

-

They were halfway through dinner when Sam's cellphone rang. Checking the caller ID, she smiled as she answered, "Hey, Daniel."

Jack rolled his eyes and muttered something about timing before motioning to Sam to keep eating. She shook her head and pushed her chair back to give her full attention to the call.

"_Hey, Sam. How's it going?"_ asked Daniel.

"I'm good. How are you? How's the conference?"

"_Actually, it's not as good as I thought, I think I'm going to bail out early."_

"Really? That bad?" she said sympathetically.

"Yeah. So, I'm going to be back home tomorrow afternoon. I was wondering if you wanted to catch a movie tomorrow night?"

"Oh, thanks for the offer, Daniel, but I can't."

"You're on downtime though, right? I called the base to talk to Teal'c and found he'd gone home for a few days, so I figured you were all on downtime while I'm away."

"Yeah, I'm on downtime, but I can't make the movies. I'm sorry."

"That's okay. Does that mean you're spending your downtime working all the hours you can?"

"No, it means I'm not at the base. I'm out of town. I'm not gonna get back until late tomorrow night."

"_Oh, okay. Well, I guess I'll see you when you get back?"_

"I'm looking forward to it," she smiled.

"_Great. Say hi to Mark and the kids for me,"_ he said as he ended the call.

"You didn't tell him where you were," said Jack mischievously as she started to eat again. "Why not?"

Her eyes flew to his, silently asking him not to go there, but he repeated his question.

"I guess I didn't want him to get the wrong idea," she replied with her head dipped, forcing a forkful of food into her mouth to give her an excuse not to say anymore.

"And by _not_ telling him, you don't think he'll get the wrong idea? What about when he finds out?"

"Who says he will?" she said cryptically. Before Jack could reply, her cellphone rang again.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud," muttered Jack. "Gimme that." He grabbed the phone out of her hand and stared at it, willing it to stop ringing.

"Sir, it's the SGC," she said, having just managed to glimpse the caller ID display before he removed the phone. "I need to answer it."

"You're not supposed to have any contact with the SGC at the moment, Carter."

"It might be General Hammond."

"Well, if it is, I'll find that out in a second, won't I?" he said as he raised his finger to press the 'receive' button. Sam stared at him in shock.

"Sir, you can't answer that!"

"Why not?"

"Because everyone knows you were coming up here. If you answer my phone, they'll know I'm here as well."

"I don't really see why that – Damn," he cursed as the phone stopped ringing. He set it down on the table carefully. "I'm tempted to confiscate this as well as your laptop."

The phone beeped and Sam picked it up. "Whoever it is has left me a voicemail. I should check this," she said, standing up from the table and moving into the living room. Jack made another muttering about timing and started to clear their dishes.

-

"What emergency was it this time then?" asked Jack as he entered the living room clutching a beer and dropping onto the couch, quickly grabbing the remote control.

"They messed up one of the diagnostics," she said with a shake of her head. "It was General Hammond who left the message by the way. He didn't sound too impressed that he had to leave a message."

"For all he knows, you could have been in the bathroom, Carter," said Jack logically. When she didn't comment, he grew suspicious and pressed, "He didn't complain at all, did he? You're just trying to make me feel guilty for taking your phone away." Sam walked over to the window, avoiding his gaze, but Jack wasn't fooled. "Don't even try and act innocent, Carter, it doesn't work."

"He did complain actually," she replied, but she could see his reflection in the window, staring her down until she added, "but he was complaining about the lack of sufficiently trained technicians. He wants me to devise a full training plan when I get back."

"Sound good to me. The more people trained up, the more you can actually take time off and enjoy your downtime in peace."

Rolling her eyes, Sam settled into an armchair and turned her attention to the TV, which was currently showing a hockey game.

"So, it's our last night here, Carter, what do you want to do?" asked Jack after a few minutes of silence.

She looked at him in slight confusion. "You're not going to watch the game?" she queried, nodding to the TV.

"Nah, it's from last night, I already know the score. Come on, the night is young and the choice is yours," he said, opening his arms wide. "What'll it be?"

"What are the options? We're in the middle of nowhere."

Jack pretended to be offended at her words, but he couldn't suppress his smile. "We could watch a movie," he suggested. "I have a few here, or we can go into town and rent one. We could go to a bar, shoot some pool –"

"Want me to beat you again, Sir?" she interrupted with a grin.

"Okay, no pool," he amended quickly. "A movie then?"

"Actually, there's –" she paused and looked pensive, wondering if she should voice her thought. He waved his hands in encouragement for her to continue. "We passed one of those family fun places in town today, on the way here from the grocery store."

"Yeah," he confirmed, sensing she was unsure if she was right.

"It looked as though they had go-karts."

"You're challenging me to a race?" he grinned.

"You betcha," she grinned back.

"You're on!"

-

"Hell, Carter, remind me never to get on your motorbike with you," said Jack as they walked back into the arcade. Sam had been like a speed demon on the go-kart track, expertly maneuvering around everyone and leaving them in her wake. Jack had protested that she had chosen a kart nearer to the start line than he had, but she'd just laughed and told him he needed to be faster on his feet as well as in a kart.

Laughing at him, Sam made a beeline for the air hockey table, turning to look at him hopefully. "Wanna play?"

"You're challenging me at something that has _hockey_ in its title?" he grinned.

"Yeah," she shrugged. "I should warn you though, I'm good at this."

"So am I."

Dropping the money into the slot, Sam retrieved the puck from the end and held it in her hand. "Want to toss a coin for who launches the puck?"

"No, on you go, Carter, I can take it," he smirked, picking up his round mallet and assuming an attacking stance.

Gripping her own mallet firmly in her right hand, Sam placed the puck on the table, so that it hovered slightly on the cushion of air, then she took aim. Striking the puck with the mallet, she watched it fly to the other end of the table, where Jack defended his goal by hitting the puck back towards her.

Within a few strikes, it was easy to tell that both were telling the truth when they said how good they were at the game. Suddenly though, Jack's concentration was broken as a young waitress passed by on her way back to the food counter, and Sam took full advantage, slamming her mallet into the puck and sending it at full speed into Jack's goal.

"Damn," he cursed as he heard the puck clatter and watched the electronic score signal 1-0 to Carter.

"You should pay attention, then that might not happen," she said dryly, her eyes betraying her annoyance at the cause of his distraction.

"I hadn't noticed the food counter, so I was watching where she was going," he lied, his lips curling into a self-deprecating smile when Sam just shook her head. "Anyway, time for payback," he stated, retrieving the puck and placing it on the table, ready to fire back at her.

The game was intense, their curses and joys of triumph gaining quite a few looks in the busy arcade, but it was only the moments when their concentration lapsed that the other was able to score a goal. Tied at 5-5, both of them focused on the table and leaned forward to put their whole bodies into the game. Sam's left hand gripped the end of the table, while Jack's left hand rested on the side, his arm stretched out.

His hand recoiled a moment later when the puck came in contact with his fingers, courtesy of a severe blow by Sam's mallet.

"Dammit," he cursed, dropping his mallet and cradling his left hand in his right. Sam hesitated for a moment, wondering if he was trying a ploy to get her to drop her guard so he could score a goal but, when he started shaking his hand, she realized he wasn't messing around. Releasing her mallet, she walked to his end of the table and looked at him worriedly.

"Sir? Are you okay?"

"I think you broke my finger," he growled, though there was no malice. Sam stifled a smile and shook her head. "I'm serious," he glared, "look." Sticking out his left index finger, he waited for Sam to inspect it before he put on his best pout. "See?"

He sounded like a 5 year old and Sam couldn't help but chuckle, though was quickly silenced by his glare. "I'm sorry, Sir, but you really should know better than to put your fingers so close to the table surface."

"You've got one hell of a mean streak, Carter," he stated playfully.

"Bend your finger," she ordered, ignoring his comment. He glared at her some more, but complied and started to flex his finger slowly.

"Ow."

"It's not broken, not when you can move it like that," she declared.

"It still hurts!" he protested loudly, drawing a few stares from around the room.

"I guess you don't want to play anymore?" she smirked. "Retiring due to injury?"

"I'm retiring due to being assaulted by my opponent, which means you're disqualified and I'm the automatic winner." He flashed a triumphant grin as she threw her head back to laugh.

"I guess if you have a sore finger, I'll need to drive your truck," said Sam as they walked towards the exit.

Jack stopped walking and turned to her in horror. "After the way you drove that go-kart, you're lucky I'm even going to let you _in_ my truck, no way are you getting behind the wheel."

"But what about your finger?"

She was playing with him and he knew it, but he had no option but to admit, "I'll live."

Striding into the parking lot, Jack feigned annoyance, stalking away from Carter and jumping into his truck quickly, starting up the engine as if he was going to leave without her.

"I'll put some ice on it for you when we get back," she offered sweetly as she hopped in the passenger side.

-

Sam smiled to herself as she watched Jack inspect her handiwork. She had tied his index finger to his middle finger, effectively creating a splint. Although she knew was his finger wasn't broken, it was better to be safe than sorry, and it also meant she could at least say she'd done something to help. Unfortunately though, it didn't stop his complaining.

"I think you've made it worse. Have you been taking tips from the Doc on how to subject me to the most amount of pain?" he grumbled.

"Believe me, if I had, you would be missing a voice box by now," she retorted, grinning at his wounded scowl.

"You seem to have lost all sense of respect, Carter. Where's the 'Yes, Sir' I've come to expect?"

Her mouth immediately opened, but she slammed it shut, deciding it was better not to voice her first instinctive reply. Instead, she slowly said, "I'm on downtime, away from the base, you're the one who said I should just relax and go with the flow."

"Touché," he acknowledged with a nod.

It was getting late, but neither of them were particularly tired. After catching the sports news on TV, Jack switched it off and tossed the remote onto the coffee table. Glancing out the window he noted, "It looks like a clear night out there. Perfect for a little star-spotting."

Sam didn't comment at first but, when he stood up and started to walk away, she said, "Uh, isn't it a little cold out there for that?"

"I'm a Minnesota man, I don't feel cold," he smirked, but then added, "Unless, you know, I'm trapped in ice for hours." Sam nodded, remembering the same incident. "Anyway," he continued, "I'm not going outside. Come on." He walked towards his room and, hearing that she wasn't following, turned around and beckoned to her with his hand.

Rising from her seat, she followed him curiously, wondering what he was doing. Walking into his bedroom, her question was soon answered. In front of the large window, he had a telescope set up and was currently fiddling with the dials.

"Wanna take a look?" he asked when he felt her approach. He looked through the telescope once more himself, and then stepped aside so she could take his place.

"This is an incredible piece of equipment, Sir," she enthused, noting that it easily focused through the glass to give her a clear view of the night sky.

"I take my stargazing seriously," he said. Sam faltered while trying to adjust one of the mechanisms without looking and Jack slowly brought his hand up to cover hers, helping her to move it properly. "Let me help," he murmured close to her ear. He both heard and felt her breath hitch a little and he knew his was about so do the same, so he quickly made the adjustment and dropped his hand, simultaneously taking a step back.

Stepping away herself, Sam said, "Uh, I'm getting tired, I think I'll go to bed."

"Sure." Before she could leave, Jack stopped her with his voice. "I'm gonna go fishing in the morning, try and catch us some lunch before we have to leave. Wanna join me?"

She met his gaze intently for a moment before shaking her head. "Actually, if you don't mind, I was thinking about taking a walk around the area tomorrow. It looks a nice place, I should at least see some of it."

Jack mentally debated offering to join her, but settled for quipping, "Sure. Don't go getting yourself lost though, Carter, since you don't have your GPS tracking system with you."

"Goodnight, Sir," she laughed as she finally left his room.

-

Their morning apart gave them both time to reflect on the two days they had spent together. As they reconvened in the cabin for lunch, the only chat was small talk, filling the silence but not adding much substance. Sam had filled Jack in on where she'd ventured during her walk and he had taken great delight in telling her it had only taken him twenty minutes to catch the fish for lunch, but both knew there was a lot more being left unsaid between them.

Sam quickly packed up her belongings while Jack loaded the trash into his truck, planning to dispose of it en route to the airport. He then made sure that everything was secure before grabbing both their bags and loading them into the truck as well. Taking a moment for a last look around, they silently proceeded to the vehicle.

-

Jack pulled up in front of Sam's house and looked out the window.

"Sky's much clearer in Minnesota," he commented. "Everything's better there."

"I'm going to plead the fifth on that, Sir," she grinned. Both sat silently for a few moments, unsure of what to say.

"So, Carter, we've spent downtime together, just the two of us, and the world didn't end," commented Jack quietly. She smiled in response. "Maybe we should do this more often?" he said hopefully.

"Yes, Sir, maybe we should," she replied softly as she opened the door and stepped out of the truck, grabbing her bag from the backseat.

Knowing his mission to make Sam Carter enjoy downtime was now achieved, Jack leaned back in the driver's seat and watched her walk into her house before he smiled and muttered, "Sweet."

-

Fin

Thank you for the reviews. They're much appreciated.


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